Lance still a chance

There’s every chance two-wheeled wunderkind Alberto Contador will bestronger, faster and fitter at the 2010 Tour. But Anthony Tan stillbelieves 'The Boss’ has a shot at title #8.

The last fortnight in cycling has provided some interesting reading. If you're a golf fan, well, that's been more interesting again, but I digress about Tiger and his, um, tigresses; I'll leave the topic of infidelity among sportspeople for my column in next month's Playboy. (Joking.)

Of course, there's the transfer of Bradley Wiggins to Team Sky for an estimated €4 million over four years, not to mention the £2M-plus buyout fee the corporate behemoth-backed squad paid to his former team – ker-ching, ker-ching!

Santa came early for Wiggo (and to an extent, Garmin, too), you could say.

Shortly before that, however, what piqued my interest were the rumblings that roused from the recent RadioShack and Astana training camps.

We all know now of the rift between Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador that climaxed at this year's Tour – the likes of which the Texan claims to have never experienced before – but depending on what your take is, it's almost as if Lance has conceded defeat to the unflappable Spaniard at next year's Tour, before a pedal has been turned.

"On the bike, I'll say Alberto is the biggest and best talent we have now, and maybe the biggest we've ever seen," said Armstrong at his team's first get-together in Tuscon, Arizona, last week.

"I come from the perspective from being on the team with him, I saw physically how good he was [at the Tour], I also saw mentally and emotionally how strong he is off the bike," he added.

"I'm not a fool, I've sized up plenty of competition in my day, and he's going to be very difficult to beat – some would say impossible. He's a complete rider, it's tough to beat someone who can climb and time trial that well."

His team manager, long-time confidante, and mastermind behind Armstrong's seven Tour victories, Johan Bruyneel, didn't sound all that confident, either: "We just have to hope that Alberto won't be on the same level."

Bruyneel later qualified his remarks by saying it's not only about being the strongest. "You have to have a good support team, a team of coaches and people around you that have the experience, and then there's the tactics. Race circumstances. Cycling is not an exact science. A lot of things can happen," he said.

Problem is, though, Contador pretty much demonstrated to the world that he can win the Tour de France with or without a team, and irrespective of tactics or race circumstances.

After all, as Armstrong keeps mentioning, eight out nine riders on the Astana roster at this year's Tour left for RadioShack (another three, not on the Tour team, also bailed), which is indicative of how much (read: little) support Contador had in July.

What's more, aged 27 and at the cusp of what the majority of expert sport physiologists consider one's cycling prime, there's every chance Contador won't be on the same level in 2010 – he's likely to be even better.

Garmin-Transitions sport director, Matt White, told me at the Cronulla Grand Prix last Sunday that tragedy would be the only circumstance that would allow someone other than Contador or Andy Schleck to win next year's Tour.

But you know what? I still give Lance a chance – it's just very minute.